Implantable medical devices (IMDs) may be used to deliver electrical stimulation therapy to patients to treat a variety of symptoms or conditions such as chronic pain, tremor, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, neuralgia, urinary or fecal incontinence, sexual dysfunction, obesity, or gastroparesis. An IMD including an implantable pulse generator (IPG) may deliver stimulation therapy via implantable leads that include electrodes located proximate to the spinal cord, pelvic nerves, stomach, or brain, or elsewhere within a patient. In some cases, electrodes may be integrated with an implantable pulse generator, eliminating the need for leads. In general, the implantable medical device delivers stimulation therapy in the form of electrical stimulation pulses.
A clinician selects values for a number of programmable parameters in order to define the stimulation therapy to be delivered to a patient. For example, the clinician selects a pulse amplitude, which may be a current or voltage amplitude, a pulse width for a stimulation waveform to be delivered to the patient, as well as a rate at which the pulses are to be delivered to the patient. In addition, the clinician selects electrode combinations and polarities for delivery of the stimulation pulses. Multiple programs may be created and grouped together to provide the patient with multiple stimulation program options to treat the condition.
During stimulation therapy, the patient may use an external programmer, sometimes referred to as a patient programmer, to modify or adjust one or more parameters of a stimulation program. The patient uses a display on the external programmer to navigate and select the program to be modified and to adjust the parameter. The display may show the current parameter values associated with the program selected. The programmer transmits program or parameter changes to the IMD via wireless telemetry.